Funds to support Kisan Swaraj Sammelan April 2016 in Hyderabad

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KISAN SWARAJ SAMMELAN

A Confluence of Farmer organizations and Well-wishers of the Farming Community

Organized by

Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA)

April 1-3, 2016: HYDERABAD

The 3rdKisan Swaraj Sammelan comes at a time when the agrarian distress in India is continuing unabated, worsened by two consecutive years of drought in many states.There are mighty forces working to take away land, seed and government support systems from small farmers and pave the way for corporate-controlled, chemical, mechanized agriculture.At the same time, we see a greater resolveand alliance-building among various farm movements, pushing back on anti-farmer measures such as the Land Acquisition Ordinance, and stronger momentum for ecologically sustainable agriculture resisting the Green revolution paradigm and corporatization. Public pressure is building on the governments to address farmer suicides and the ecological and economic crisis in agriculture.

At such a time, theSammelanis as an occasion for strengthening our understanding of the highly complex challenges before us, and for rejuvenating our common bonds so that even as we work independently on many fronts there is a synergy in thought and action. We invite into the Sammelan all the organizations and individuals who are part of the broad ASHA-Kisan Swaraj family, as well as friends and allies from like-minded organizations and alliances.

Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture or the ASHA-Kisan Swaraj network is a national platform created in 2010 through the nationwide 71-day Kisan Swaraj Yatra,drawing attention to the issues of Food, Farmers, Freedom.ASHA-Kisan Swaraj draws strength from associated farmers’ organizations, consumer groups, women’s organizations, environmental organizations, individual citizens and experts on related subjects, who are committed to the cause of sustainable and viable farm livelihoods in rural India.We believe in a 4-pillared Kisan Swaraj Neetithat provides a framework for a forward-looking agricultural vision and policy for India, and call on governments to adopt the same. The four pillars of Kisan Swaraj are (1) income security for all farm households which guarantees minimum living incomes for dignified living; (2) environmental sustainability of agriculture so that resource conservation and sustainable use is ensured for sustainable farm livelihoods; (3) people’s control over agricultural resources like land, water, forest and seed; and (4) access to safe, healthy, nutritious and sufficient food for all.

Keeping with the inclusive and broad-based approach, the Kisan Swaraj Sammelans are organized not only as national conventions of the Kisan Swaraj network for mutual learning, sharing and collective planning, but also as occasions to reach out to various networks, alliances and people’s movements to extend solidarity and draw from their expertise and experience. We hope that the Sammelan will help strengthen the work of everyone involved.The Sammelan will be hosted by RythuSwarajyaVedika.

Objectives of the Sammelan

Exchange of knowledge, perspectives and information about various policy developments impacting farmers, through interactions with chosen resource persons for each theme;

Interaction among various members of ASHA and re-energizing;sharing information about work;

Building solidarity with like-minded networks and various campaigns that ASHA has been involved in,Learning from each other’s experiences, struggles and strategies;plan future action wherever possible;

Generating publicawareness through a Seed Festival, Exhibition, and panel discussions organized during the Convention.

Themes

The Sammelanwill focus on Ecological Agriculture; Free Trade and Agricultural Livelihoods; Women Farmers; Hazardous Agri-Technologies like Pesticides, Fertilisers and Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs); Seed Sovereignty & Diversity; Land Rights; Economic Policies impacting Indian agriculture; Adivasi Agriculture etc. The sessions would mainly centreon current policies, laws and programs, what the alternative policy discourse should be, ongoing work on these issues and advocacy agendas for future work. This may include discussions on grassroots level alternatives which need to be replicated.

Format

The Sammelanwill have plenaries and parallel sessions to meet its objectives, in addition to a BioDiverstiy Festival, Exhibition on relevant themes, Public Lectures and cultural programmes. The parallel sessions will be the main activity of the Convention, so that discussions are interactive and participatory. Resource persons will be drawn from various like-minded organizations and platforms.